Microsoft at ALT-C 2012

Microsoft at ALT-C 2012

On the 11th – 13th September we are excited to be exhibiting at ALT-C 2012, which is taking place at the University of Manchester.

ALT is a registered educational charity in the learning technology field who aim to ensure that the use of learning technology is effective and efficient, by bringing together practitioners, researchers and policy makers in education. Every year ALT run an international conference - a forum for people from the education sector to explore and discover with other learning technologists.

There will be many inspiring sessions throughout the three day conference, for delegates to gain valuable insight into learning technology.

This is our first year at ALT-C and we’re really pleased to be involved. We’re teaming up with one of our partners, Collabco, and together on our stand we’ll be demonstrating our learning solutions and experiences including; Office 365 for education, SharePoint and blended learning. Microsoft and Collabco have recently worked with Blackpool and Fylde College on a great solution which blends Office 365 for education, SharePoint and Moodle to provide a learning platform.

We’re also really thrilled about our guest speaker session at ALT-C, where you can hear about how the University of West London are using Office 365 for education. When UWL were considering student and staff based systems which could significantly enhance the teaching and learning experience, they began to evaluate Office 365 for education. They were most impressed with the way in which this cloud based offering, based on some of Microsoft’s core products, adapts itself in this way.

In well under a year, UWL have now rolled out Office 365 for education to all of their students and this will shortly be followed by staff. What differentiates this implementation of Office 365 for education from most others in the Sector, is that UWL have implemented the suite of applications to enhance their teaching and learning experience (rather than purely e-mail which has been the norm to date). The solution also includes tight integration with the Student Records System and Library System plus Blackboard.

In our breakout speaker session on Wednesday afternoon at ALT-C 2012, Mauli Arora from the University of West London will give you a flavour of what UWL have achieved to date.

Collabco, who are joining us at ALT-C, are also kindly hosting a pub night in association with Microsoft on the evening of Tuesday 11th September for ALT conference delegates. The drinks will be on them! So please pop down to say hi and join us all for a free beer or two from 7pm onwards. It’s at a local pub called The Old Wellington at 4 Cathedral Gates, Manchester, M3 1SW. We will be in the upstairs area. See you there!